


Meet the Pieros

by scifigrl47



Series: Tales of the Bots [10]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Family Drama, Gen, Teenage dating, parenting a teenager is very hard
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-26
Updated: 2015-09-26
Packaged: 2018-04-23 13:07:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,302
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4878028
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scifigrl47/pseuds/scifigrl47
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tony meets Lucy's parents and does his best to behave.</p><p>He tries so very hard.  He's mostly successful.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Meet the Pieros

**Author's Note:**

> Just a little piece about DJ and Lucy being pretty dumb for two very smart kids, and Tony having to meet his son's girlfriend's family. It is very awkward.
> 
> Steve totally knows about that suit, by the way. The Starks always think they're smarter than the rest of the world. THey are not.

“Incoming call, sir.”

Tony considered replying to that, but it would require lifting his mouth from his coffee. It wasn’t Steve, or Rhodey, and it wasn’t SHIELD, because Jarvis would’ve mentioned them by name.

And Pepper, he would’ve just put through without any warning, because he knew better than to let Tony screen that call.

“Sir?”

Tony raised one hand, his middle finger extended in a universal sign of ‘just a second, and go to hell while you wait.’ He drained his coffee with a sigh. “Okay,” he said, dropping the cup onto his workbench. “Who the fuck is calling me at two am?”

“Dad?”

Tony blinked. He looked at the empty coffee cup. Then he leaned back on his chair, tilting his head towards Dummy’s empty charging bay. Then he sat back up. “DJ?” he responded, because his bot turned child seemed to be waiting for some sort of reply. “What, is the elevator broken? The intercom not working? Can you not locate me in the vast space that is the workshop where we spend the majority of our lives? Because I’d think you could do that, if you wanted to. Steve’s been bitching about the mess, but we both know whose fault that is.”

“Yours.”

“I’m sorry, it’s your job to clean up around here.”

“I quit.”

Grinning, Tony rubbed a hand over his face. “Deej, baby?”

“Yes?”

“Why are you calling me?”

There was a moment of silence. “I kind of need you to come get me.”

Tony stilled, his fingers pressing hard on his eyelids. “Deej.”

“Yes?”

“Where are you?”

Another pause. Then, sadly, “Connecticut.”

Tony’s face scrunched up as he struggled to find words. After a long moment of silence, he managed, “Connecticut.”

“Connecticut,” DJ agreed. He sounded resigned.

Tony’s head fell forward. “Why are you in Connecticut, Deej? At two am on a Tuesday, why are you-” He stopped, and took a deep breath. “Lucy.”

“Lucy,” DJ agreed.

“Right.” Tony stood up. “I’m going to bed.”

“Daaaaaaaaaaaaaad.”

“Yeah, that? That was a whine right there, that was uncalled for and you know what? You do not get to whine right now. You took the armor out, didn’t you?” Tony’s eyes canted up towards the ceiling. “Despite the protocols I have in place to avoid just such an occurrence.”

“Yes,” DJ said.

“Jarvis, want to tell me how that’s possible?”

“Uncertain, sir,” Jarvis said. He sounded confused, as if things were happening that were beyond him. It would have been more effective if he hadn’t been directly channeling Tony trying to pull the same con.

“Yeah, I’m sure you have no idea what could have happened,” Tony said. He headed for the armor case, because he was an idiot, he was absolutely an idiot and this parenting thing was not for him, nope, and now that he was thinking about that, it brought up another good point. “We’re both damn lucky that Steve is in the back end of nowhere right now, kid, because he would kill me and give you such a disapproving look right now.”

“But he is,” DJ pointed out. “So I had to call you.”

“Why? Did you crash?” The spike of panic was unreasonable, illogical, and so overwhelming that he staggered under it. “Deej, are you hurt, what’s wrong, where are you, did the suit malfunction did you-”

“Her parents say that if one of my parents doesn’t come to get me, they’re going to call the cops.”

Tony stopped, relief swamping him. It was immediately followed by a sinking sensation. “You got caught.”

“Kinda.”

Tony slapped a hand against his face, hard enough to hurt, because this was karma, this was absolutely karma and he fucking hated karma, because karma absolutely had it out for him. He was fairly certain that was his own fault, and he hated that, too. “Deej, please tell me you had your pants on.”

There was a long moment of silence. “We were STUDYING,” DJ said, disapproval soaking the words.

“Which doesn’t give me any idea about the state of your damn pants, so drop the attitude.”

“Yes, we had pants on. There are rules. Pants based rules,” DJ said. He paused. “Are you coming to get me?”

“Yes,” Tony said, almost before DJ finished the words. “You know I'm coming to get you. You know that you could call me from halfway around the world and tell me you broke the 'no pants’ rule and I would come get you. No questions asked.” He snagged a helmet. “Right?”

“Right,” DJ agreed. His voice dropped to a very faint pitch. “They’re kind of mad at me.”

“Yeah, well, I am too, they were supposed to meet Steve first because people LIKE Steve, remember? If and when your girlfriend’s parents found out about us, we were going to send Steve with a fucking cheesecake and that reassuring smile of his, the one that clearly telegraphs that we can be trusted around their daughter, that this is something they should allow.”

“Sorry.”

“Yeah, me, too.” Tony shook his head. “I love you, you’re a pain in the ass, Jarvis, you’re fired, and everyone is grounded. Including me, when Steve finds out about this.”

“I love you, too. Please hurry.”

“Working on it, bot for brains.”

*

“This is not my fault.”

Lucy resisted the urge to throw something. Preferably at her sister's head. “Really,” she said, her voice flat. “How do you figure, Letitia? How do you figure this isn't your fault?” She grabbed another tea cup off of the shelf and added it to the stack on her tray. “Because, really, it is your fault.”

Letitia gave her a look, her arms folded under her breasts. “You sneak out, and you want me to cover for you,” she said, her voice a hiss, “you need to tell me. You can't just disappear and expect me to make something up when mom asks where you've gotten off to. Because if I don't know-” She leaned in, her eyes narrowed into slits. “I can't help you.”

Her mouth a tight, thin line, Lucy grabbed the sugar bowl from the cabinet and slammed the door shut. “You didn't have to tell her anything!”

Letitia threw her hands in the air. “Oh, my god. Do not put this on me, just because you were dumb enough to go out the window on a school night, of all things, you had to know you'd get caught eventually.”

“You mean, like you did? Sneak out? And get caught eventually?” Lucy asked her.

“Hey, I own my shit.” The tea kettle began to hiss, then whistle, and Letitia grabbed it. “And I worked up to 'sneaking out with a boy on a school night,'” she pointed out. “You have to work up to these things, Luce. You can't just get caught in the backyard with some boy Mom and Dad have never seen before.” She paused, the kettle hanging from one hand. “You have to ease into it. Start small. Miss curfew by fifteen minutes. Get caught sneaking into an R rated film with the girls in your nerd clique. Get a B on your report card. Small stuff. You went straight to 'weird boy in our backyard at two in the morning,' what did you think would happen? Of course they're overreacting, you're the good one.”

“Ticia-”

Shaking her head, Letitia poured the water into the tea pot. Steam rolled up from the spout, curling through the cool evening air. “Next time,” she said, shooting a look at the kitchen door, “tell me. So that I can cover for you.”

Lucy braced her hands on the edge of the counter. “Would you?”

Letitia gave her a sharp look. “Oh, screw you.”

“No, I mean, would you?” Lucy asked. She ignored the way her eyes stung. “Really?”

She took a deep breath. “You're my sister. And-” She propped her hands on her hips. “God knows you've covered for me enough. Yeah. I'd cover for you. And your weird little white boy.”

“He's not weird,” Lucy said. Letitia arched an eyebrow at her, her expression full of disbelief, and Lucy's eyes rolled. “He's not.”

“Luce. He's super weird.”

“He's usually better than this,” Lucy admitted. “I think Mom's traumatized him.”

“Mom's good at that,” Letitia agreed. She waved Lucy away. “I'll get the cake.” 

“Thanks,” Lucy said. She picked up the tray, balancing the weight with both hands. “Ticia?” Her sister didn't look back at her, and Lucy took a deep breath. “Thanks. For a party happy bubblehead, you're not a half-bad sister.”

One of Letitia's shoulders rose in a half-shrug. “Well, for a perfect princess of a computer nerd, you're not half-bad yourself.” She glanced back. “Loser.”

“Dumbass,” Lucy said, her lips curling up.

“Teacher's pet.”

“Vapid bimbo.”

“Get out there, and do not engage with Mom. You won't win.” Letitia pulled the cake out of the fridge. 

“This from the girl who fights with her like every day?” Lucy asked, bracing the tray on her hip.

“Yeah, see, I'd know when it's worth it. This? Not worth it. Go.” Letitia waved her knife at the door, and Lucy took that as a hint. Or a threat. Either way, it seemed safer to go. She went.

The silence in the living room was stifling. DJ was seated on the couch, his face set and pale, his big, dark eyes jerking in her direction as soon as she walked through the door. Lucy gave him a reassuring smile, and was relieved to see his face relax, even a little bit.

“Tea,” she announced, setting the tray down on her table. “Letitia's getting the cake.”

“Thank you,” her mother said. “DJ, would you like some tea?”

DJ's eyes darted to Lucy. “It's okay,” she whispered, smiling at him. “I made it. Not poisoned. I promise.”

“Lucy-” her mother started, disapproval heavy in her voice.

“Actually, it might be, has he had your cooking?” her father asked.

“Ha. Ha,” Lucy said, but she gave her father a grateful smile. He smiled back, the corners of his eyes crinkling as he took the cup from her. He looked tired, the lines around his mouth etched deep. But he was smiling at her, the same way he always did when he knew she was scared and unsure. Even in his bathrobe and slippers, needing a shave and a couple of hours of sleep, he smiled at her, and Lucy's eyes burned.

“Sorry,” she said, her voice low, and his broad hand cupped her cheek. The touch was familiar, his fingers warmed by the cup.

“It's okay,” he whispered back. “We just want to know what's going on in your life, you know that, right baby? You-” He paused, his smile taking on a hint of sadness. “You haven't been telling us things lately.”

Lucy nodded. “I know. I just-” She didn't have a way to finish that, and she pulled away. “Mom?”

“Yes, please.” She took the cup without another word, without meeting Lucy's eyes. Her face was set, her bathrobe pulled in tight, the belt double knotted. She kept a wary and disapproving eye on DJ, who seemed to be doing his best to appear non-threatening.

He looked up when Lucy poured a cup and offered it to him. “Is he coming?” she whispered.

DJ's eyes flicked towards her. “Yes,” he said, the word barely audible. His nose wrinkled. “I'm in trouble.”

“Yeah, well, join the club,” Lucy said. She handed him a cup of tea. His hands were steady as he wrapped his fingers around the porcelain, but he made no move to drink it. 

“Cake,” Letitia announced, walking in with a tray full of plated slices.

Their mother glanced at her, wise to her tricks. “Six slices?” she asked, her eyebrows arching. 

“Oh, did I cut too many?” Letitia asked, staring down at her tray, her eyes wide. She shook her head. “I can-”

“Go to bed, Letitia,” her mother said without even glancing in her direction.

“But-”

“You're not helping,” their father said, holding up a hand. “You need to-”

A short, sharp roar brought conversation to a halt. Lucy paused, her tea cup halfway to her mouth. She glanced at DJ, who caught her eye and nodded. 

Her father, not so familiar with the sound, sighed and pushed himself up. “I swear of that idiot up the street is revving his motorcycle at this time of the morning-”

“No,” DJ said, just as there was a rapid fire knock at the front door. Relief had color rushing back into his face. “It's Dad.”

Her father glanced back at them, but crossed to the door, opening it. In the halo of the porch light, the ruby red surface of the armor seemed to glow as it finished folding itself into its briefcase form. 

“Hi,” Tony Stark said, in the thundering silence that followed. He leaned over, picking up the case. “I'm your worst nightmare, pleased to meet you.”

*

“Wow,” DJ said, his tone disapproving, and Tony grinned at him, relief flooding him. He was clearly stressed, his posture so tense that he was nearly vibrating with it, but he was holding on. 

“Should. Have. Waited. For. Steve,” he said, crossing over to them. He dropped the briefcase next to DJ's backpack, and smoothed his hands over DJ's head, pushing his hair back and letting him lean into the touch. He spared a glance and a smile for Lucy. “Hey, Luminous, you okay?” 

Lucy managed a slight smile. “Been better.”

“You are fucking kidding me.”

Tony glanced up. The girl standing on the other side of the room was wearing a bright pink sweatsuit, her long dark braids pulled back with a bandana. She was staring at him, her lips parted on a grin. “You're Tony Stark.”

“Did you name drop me?” Tony asked DJ, who managed a smile. 

“You're tough to explain,” DJ said, his hands coming up to cover Tony's, holding them in place. Tony leaned over and pressed a hard kiss to DJ's head.

To the girl, he said. “Yeah. Tony Stark. Pleased to meet you. This is DJ Stark-Rogers. My kid.”

The silence was painful. When Lucy took a deep breath, it was perfectly audible. “Mom, Dad, this is Tony. Tony, these are my parents, Victoria and Adam Piero.” The girl made a very obvious coughing noise. “And my older sister, Letitia.”

“You're Tony Stark,” Letitia said, because she seemed to be the only one in the room capable of talking. “Oh my God. Luce. He's Tony Stark.”

“I know,” Lucy said. “I- Yeah, I know.”

“Do you know Beyoncé?” Letitia asked, and Tony found himself grinning at her.

“Letitia,” Victoria said, her voice promising doom, but Letitia didn't even slow down.

“Do you- Oh, my FUCK, you're dating TONY STARK'S SON?” Letitia yelled at Lucy.

“Yes,” Lucy said. “I mean-” She pressed both hands to her face. “Can you not do this?”

“Tony Stark has a son?” Adam asked.

“Surprise!” Tony said, and DJ gave him a look that promised unbelievable pain. Tony sighed. “Yes, I know Beyoncé,” he said to Letitia, who made a sound that hurt him to hear. He couldn't imagine how much it must've hurt her to make it. 

“Can you get me an autograph?” she asked.

“Letitia!” Victoria said, standing up. “Go. To. Bed.”

“Please?” Letitia asked Tony.

“No,” Tony told her. “We're not- Look, I owe her forty bucks and a bag of pizza flavored Goldfish crackers, it's-” He shrugged. “It's complicated.”

“Go to bed,” Victoria said, and Letitia made a face at Lucy. Lucy made a face back. Victoria pointed at the door, and this time, Letitia went.

“She seems nice,” Tony said to Lucy, and she smiled up at him. 

“Mr. Stark,” Victoria started, sinking back into her chair.

“Tony,” Tony interrupted her. “Look. I'm sorry. I am. This is not how we intended this to go. And I know you must have questions. Questions, and judging by the way you're looking at me right now, a lot of doubts, I get that, we've gone through this before.” He gave DJ's head one last ruffle, the touch rough enough that DJ could feel it, even though his burgeoning panic. “We okay, botbrain?” he asked.

“We're okay,” DJ said, and when Tony didn't move, he looked up. His gaze was stable. “We're okay,” he repeated, and Tony was so proud of him that for a second, he couldn't breathe, let alone speak.

“Good,” he said. “Tell me if that changes.” He let his fingers slide away from DJ's hair, and it hurt, it hurt to let him go. He turned back to Victoria and Adam, who were now seated side by side on the couch, staring at him. He did his best to keep a reassuring smile on his face. Judging by the way Victoria was staring at him, it wasn't particularly successful. Heaving a mental sigh, he pulled his phone out of his pocket. “Here,” he said, queuing up the photo album, and holding it out to them.

Victoria stared at it. “What is this?” she asked, suspicion heavy in her voice.

The urge to say 'a phone' was so overwhelming that he had to grit his teeth to keep it from slipping out. But Lucy was staring at him, her face pleading, and Tony took a deep breath. “Family photo album,” he said. “Everyone's first response to finding out about him is to suspect I'm making it up, that I just picked up a teenager off the street and am now claiming he's my son. So we put this together. Pictures, some short videos, of him with us through the years.”

He met her eyes dead on. “He's mine. Ours, rather. And we've spent years doing our best to hide him. For, well, obvious reasons.”

Adam took the phone from him. “You have to know this has been a shock,” he said, his voice quiet. 

“Yeah. I do.” Tony sank down into a chair. “Luce, what's going on?”

She looked up. Her eyes were huge in her face, big and bright with unshed tears. He leaned forward. “Can you tell me? You know that DJ can't right now. And I trust you.”

She nodded, her eyes darting over to her parents. “I, uh, I have a test tomorrow,” she said, her fingers twisting together in her lap. “Kind of an important one. I was trying to get some studying in, because I feel-” Her face twisted, something like rage or pain, and then it smoothed out again. “I texted DJ because I was having a bad time with some stuff, and he came-” She blinked hard. “He came to help me, that's all. He just-”

She fell silent, her head down, and Tony looked at DJ. “That about right?” he asked.

DJ nodded. “Thought I could help,” he said, his fingers rubbing compulsively along the top of his tea cup. “I just made it worse.”

“Right.” Tony reached out, ruffling his hair. “Don't do that again. You're grounded for about six months.”

DJ gave him a look. “Six months?”

“I'm trying to look tough in front of the other parents,” Tony said. “Shut up, you're ruining it.”

“He came here. From New York.” Victoria did not sound pleased.

Tony nodded. “Yeah. Sorry. He's pretty smart, and the door man likes him.”

Adam was flicking through the phone, his finger sliding over the screen, a slight smile on his face. But Victoria was staring at Tony, her face tense, her shoulders up, her back straight. “How?”

Tony nodded at the backpack resting beside DJ's leg. “Suit,” he said, because they might as well get that out of the way. 

Her mouth went tight. “He has armor. He brought a weapon to-”

“Not a weapon,” Tony said. Her mouth opened, and he held up a hand. “I apologize, please. It is not a weapon, or rather, it's not weaponized. It's defensive.” He leaned forward. “Years ago, I made a suit for Pepper Potts, my CEO. It was designed for speed, for protection. No weapons systems. I made it because I wanted her to be safe, I wanted her to not have to pay for my mistakes.”

He smiled. “I called it Rescue. I put it together, to keep her safe, but she was never completely comfortable with the armor. When DJ got old enough, I based his suit off of that.”

Tony reached out, grabbing the backpack and swinging it onto the table. “It's DNA encoded. Only works for DJ. No weapons systems, but it's the fastest, toughest, most stable armor I've ever built. Total stealth capability, it can literally go invisible, same way SHIELD's helicarriers can.”

“You gave a suit of flying armor to a child,” Victoria said.

“I gave my kid every possible tool to keep him safe,” Tony said. “We all did.” He leaned back. “I won't make any apologies for that.”

“Can I see?”

Tony glanced at Adam, who was considering the backpack with curious eyes. He weighed the question. It seemed like a bad idea. But letting them imagine it was probably worse. He took a deep breath. “Deej?” Tony asked. 

DJ stood up, reaching for the backpack. The exterior had been designed to resemble a hard sided cyclist backpack, sleek and streamlined. It gleamed in semi-muted tones of maroon with silver trim. He slipped it on, letting it settle against his back and wrapped both hands around the straps. His thumbs slipped under the straps, triggering the hidden mechanisms.

The armor unfolded with lightning speed, panels sliding into place, wrapping around him with almost inaudible hisses of metal on metal. In a matter of seconds, DJ was straightening up, his slim form full encased. 

“We call it Search,” Tony said, with a faint smile. “The last of the family armors.”

“Steve doesn't get one?” Lucy asked, a faint smile on her face. 

Tony made a face. “Bastard won't let me suit him up,” he said. He nodded at DJ, proud of the armor and the kid wearing it. “And you are not supposed to be using that except in an emergency.”

The helmet popped open. “It was an emergency,” DJ said. “Lucy was upset.”

“Alarming, but not an emergency,” Tony said. 

Victoria stood up, her eyes locked on DJ. “Why didn't you tell us?” she asked Lucy.

“Would you have believed me?” Lucy shot back.

Adam held Tony's phone out to him. “You could've told us you'd found a boy,” he said, with a faint smile. “You were a very cute kid,” he told DJ.

“It wore off,” DJ said, and with a flick of his shoulders, he sent the armor back into its compact form, and slipped the backpack off of his shoulders. When he sank back down, it was to sit on the floor next to Lucy's chair, drawing his knees up.

“I agreed to let Lucy apply for the internship because it would look good on her college applications,” Victoria said. “And because it would give her a head start on her professional life. I wasn't particularly happy about her spending time in the same building as the Avengers. I didn't want her to be hurt, if there was some sort of incident while she was there.”

Tony nodded. “You're not the only one to be concerned,” he said. “We protect our own very well. But yes. It's a danger we're aware of.” He leaned forward, looking at Victoria, then Adam. “I protect DJ, and that's where he lives. The building's as safe as it can be.”

“Being near him puts her in danger,” Victoria said. She looked at DJ. “I'm sorry. I'm sure you're a very nice young man. But you're not good for Lucy right now.”

DJ nodded. Lucy gave a sharp, bitter laugh. “How would you know what's good for me?”

“Because I am your mother, and you are a child,” Victoria said. “So you-”

Shaking her head, Lucy looked away, pointedly turning her face to the window. “Great,” she muttered. “That's fantastic. Whatever you want, mom. You're going to do it, no matter what I think, no matter what I want.”

Victoria's eyes closed, sucking in a breath through her nose. “He will only make things harder for you, Lucy. You need to focus on your studies, and he does not understand what it is that you're up against.”

In the strained silence that followed that, Tony sighed. “Lucy, I'm sorry,” he said. “I am, I'm sorry.”

Lucy's eyes darted back and forth, strain showing in her face. She looked exhausted, she looked on the verge of tears, and DJ leaned against her leg. She reached out, her fingers just touching his hair.

Tony turned back across the table, facing Victoria head on, because he knew where he had to focus his firepower. “Lucy didn't make it into the internship,” he said, his voice blunt. “She was eliminated on the first round.”

The silence was horrible. Tony didn't look back, couldn't look back. At either Lucy or DJ. Instead, he took a slow, deep breath. “There's twenty five slots for the early stage internship,” he said. “Five for relatives or mentorees of current StarkIndustries employees, and the other twenty are open application.” His fingers snapped against the tabletop. “We get on average eight to nine thousand applications for those twenty slots.”

Unable to bear the stillness any longer, he pushed himself to his feet. “First step is that the HR department goes through and removes the ones that are complete rubbish.” His shoulders rolled in a shrug. “You'd be surprised how many of them are thinly veiled 'I want to spend a summer in New York on someone else's dime,' but we've got people who can pick those out at a hundred yards, and they get yanked. All the ones that are left, the HR dept scrubs them.

“Remove names, any hint of background, any language that hints at gender or race or sexual orientation, because-” Tony spun a hand next to his head. “People have prejudices they don't even realize are there. So the HR types give us a good mix, make sure the applicants are qualified, and also from all backgrounds, all over the country, a wide pool of applicants.”

He stopped, his feet squeaking a little on the kitchen tile. “The ones that get that far, go to the engineers.”

“The engineers?” Adam asked. Tony glanced in his direction.

“The engineers,” he agreed. “We get a couple of panels together, fresh eyes and all that kind of thing, so we keep whittling the projects down until we have our twenty winners. The first panel goes through and kicks out the ones that are flawed, or unworkable, or just poorly done.”

He turned. “You made a mistake, Luce. A pretty big one. In your math.” He forced himself to meet her eyes. “If you'd had more time, you probably would've caught it. As it was...” He hated this. Lucy was staring up at him, her hands clamped down on the seat of the couch cushion on either side of her legs. She was small, somehow, folded up tight, even though her spine was ramrod straight. Her chin was up, her eyes were clear, but her arms trembled with the force of her grip.

Tony's eyes closed. “You were one of the first ones eliminated.”

In the silence that followed, Victoria said, “I don't understand.” Her voice was tight, a sharp note of anger to the words. “What is this all about?”

Tony turned back to her. “She was entry number 1643,” he said. “And that entry was denied in the first round. I remember it. It was... Interesting. But it was a clumsy mistake. And we have, well, standards.” He ran a hand through his hair, shifting his weight back and forth in the small space. “So it was placed in the 'no' pile and we went on with the rest of the applications.”

Adam gestured at the tea pot that was sitting on the coffee table, next to a bunch of untouched slices of cake, and Tony nodded. “Thank you.” He took the cup that was offered to him, not because he had any fondness for tea, but because he was grateful to have something to hold onto. “The problem was, on the second round, entry number 1643 was back in the pile.” He stared into the dark depths of his cup. “I thought it was a mistake, a computer glitch, and marked it as a no go again.”

He drained half the cup in one long gulp. “When it reappeared in the third round, I figured out I had a problem.”

Tony sank into his seat. DJ's head was down, his arms looped around his updrawn knees. DJ's hair was tumbled over his face, hiding his expression, and Tony reached out to ruffle his hair. “Didn't take long to track down the source.”

“I was right,” DJ mumbled.

“Yes, you were right, you're also very full of yourself.” Tony bopped him lightly on the head, and was relieved to get a faint laugh in response. “It wasn't hard to figure out who was playing with the files. DJ had access to all of them. Because he understands machines better than anyone I've ever known.” Tony paused. “And that includes me. He has a level of comprehension that most people can't approach. Can't even begin to understand.” He leaned in. “I know what he's capable of, and I trust DJ's intelligence, and I trust his judgment.”

“So I asked him, why this one? Out of all of the ones we'd eliminated, why was he so fixated on this one? The design was, well, bad.” He looked at Lucy, tried for a smile. “Sorry. But it was. Your application was impeccable, but the design portion was bad. So I asked him. Why. He said, 'the design is bad. The designer is-'”

“All that matters,” DJ finished for him, his voice quiet. He looked up, his jaw tight, his mouth a thin line. “The design, is not the designer.”

Tony caught himself smiling. “DJ-” He looked over, checking on the rise and fall of DJ's back. It was slower now, controlled, and Tony rubbed his back, feeling the muscles relax under his touch. “Isn't the best public speaker in the family. He's not-” He paused, trying to find the right words.

“Hate it,” DJ said, and Tony chuckled. 

“Yeah, that's about the long and short of it. He hates arguing, he hates conflict.” Tony smiled. “And he got up in front of half of the StarkIndustries engineers, and he fought for your daughter. He argued her case. He didn't have to, to be honest. He could've just asked me, and I would've done it.” Tony rolled his coffee cup beneath his hand, the smooth weight of the porcelain warm and familiar. “I'm good at spoiling him rotten, but he's never been good at being spoiled.

“He wants to be fair. He always wants to be fair. He gets that from Steve. So he stood up and fought for her.” Tony stopped, aching at the memory. He sucked in a breath, wishing he could make them understand.

“We had twenty-six interns this year,” Tony said. “Twenty-five chosen by the engineers and employees of StarkIndustries, and one chosen by DJ.” He smiled. “Without knowing your daughter's name, without ever having seen her, or ever speaking a word to her, based purely on one flawed design, DJ fought for her.” He leaned back. “And he won.”

Adam broke the silence. “How long before they met?”

“You'd have to ask them. I don't know,” Tony said. Exhausted, he drained his tea and put the cup down. "I wasn't allowed to talk to the proto-engineer that he had a mad crush on."

"Daaaaaaaaad," DJ said, and Tony grinned.

“I helped him find his pet lizard in a server room,” Lucy said. Her voice was shaking at the edges, but she was smiling. “Then I forgot about him for a while.”

“I'm forgettable,” DJ said, and Tony hated life in general.

He reached out and rubbed DJ's head. “But adorable.”

Victoria stood. “It's a school night,” she said, her voice quiet. “Lucy, it's hours past curfew. Say good-night to DJ, and go to bed.”

Lucy stood up. “C'mon,” she sad, holding a hand out to DJ. He took it, and let her pull him to his feet. He collected his backpack, but as they headed for the front door, they were still holding hands, their fingers woven together. Tony watched them slip out the front door, their shoulders almost touching, their heads bent together, and he wanted everything for them, for both of them.

The door shut behind them. “I think it's best,” Victoria said, her voice very quiet, her arms crossed over her chest, “if Lucy doesn't have any further contact with DJ.”

Tony's heart sank. “If that's what you choose,” he said, focusing on each word, choosing them with such amazing care, “then okay.”

She nodded. “But you don't agree.”

“But I don't agree. They're going to college soon,” Tony said, his voice steady. “She's going to be going to school. You can keep them apart for a few years, but at that point...” He let the voice trail away. “They're growing up. And maybe she'll forget him in the next eighteen months.” 

“But you don't think so,” Adam said. 

“I don't think so,” Tony agreed. “She's tough, and she's stubborn.” He tucked his hands in his pockets. “I'm not thinking they're in love. I think they're friends. I think they like each other very much. I think my kid really likes your kid. And we can let that run its course. We can let them email and text and call each other, and she can come up for gatherings with him and the rest of his friends. She likes them, they like her.

“I know you look at me and see all the things I've fucked up, all my poor choices and all my mistakes. The danger I attract. But he's not me. And I've done everything possible to keep my fucked up past from ruining his future,” he said, frustration twisting through him. “He's a good kid. Better than I ever was. He's better than I deserve. And he adores your daughter.”

He took a deep breath. “You decide that you don't want DJ to have any contact with her, I'll see that he abides by that, but when she hits eighteen, she's going to make her own choices, and then they'll be dangerous. Let them be sixteen. Let them figure this out, while they're both still under a watchful eye of responsible people who aren't me. But if you make this into a fight, I don't know if you'll win.”

Tony glanced at the porch, where the kids were standing, staring at each other. “I know I won't.” 

“He's a distraction,” Victoria said, her voice still. “One she can't afford, if she wants to live up to her potential.”

“You look at him and see only how he can hurt her, and her chances. I look at him, and know what he has to offer her.” He met Victoria's eyes. “There is no one, outside of maybe her own family, who will ever believe in your child the way DJ did, and does.” He stood. “And that's what you're taking away from her. Someone who believes in her and will fight for her. No matter what the situation.”

He held out a hand. “It was very nice to meet you. Both of you.”

Adam took it. “Why are you fighting for this?” he asked.

Tony smiled. “Because she stood up for my kid. When he needed help, when he needed someone to protect him, to believe in him, she did. I wasn't able to help him, but she was.” He shook his head. “She owns me. Doesn't matter when she calls that in. Two years, twenty, doesn't matter. I owe her. And I don't forget my debts.”

He held a hand out Victoria. “Please. Consider it. Even if it's one of us escorting him down here, so they can spend an afternoon in your living room, playing video games. Just consider it.”

“Don't you have better things to do?” she asked, considering his hand.

“Probably, but he's always going to be my first priority.” Tony didn't flinch, didn't pull back. He just stood there, hand out.

She took it. “I'll consider it,” she said, and Tony breathed again.

*

It was cold outside, and Lucy wrapped her arms around herself, a shiver racking her body. “Was that true?” she asked, and DJ's head came up.

He blinked at her, his face still tense. “Yes,” he said. “Sorry, I didn't think-” 

Lucy didn't even know she was going to do it. She didn't think. She just lunged for him, her arms going around his neck, her mouth slamming into his. There was no grace to it, no delicacy, there was nothing sexy or pretty about it. She hit him, and he stumbled back a step or two, nearly falling. But his arms wrapped around her, hugging her tight, pulling her in close.

And he kissed her back.

It was sweet, and perfect and so good that she barely heard the front door open. “Oh, for Christ's sake,” Tony said, and then DJ was being jerked away from her. Lucy scrambled backwards, embarrassment sweeping over her. But Tony was glaring down at DJ, who didn't look at all concerned.

“Did you fight for me?” DJ asked.

“I did my best and you two are ruining all my hard work, because you are hormonal nightmares,” Tony said, scruffing DJ and giving him a tug backwards. “Hands to yourself.”

“Sorry,” DJ said, but he was grinning at Lucy, his face flushed, his eyes dark. She ignored how hot her own face felt, even as she smiled back. 

“I'm not,” she said.

“Say good-night,” her dad said from the doorway. “Before Mrs. Arabella up the street decides to call the cops.”

“Good night,” Lucy said, and before anyone could do anything about it, she darted back in, pressing her mouth to DJ's, and felt his smile against her lips. “Thank you,” she whispered.

“You're welcome,” DJ whispered back, and then Tony was pulling him back.

“Hopeless,” Tony groused at him, but he gave Lucy a wink. “Fight,” he mouthed, and then he was force marching DJ down the steps. He looked back, giving Lucy a smile and a wave, and then they were disappearing into the darkness of the back yard. 

Lucy waited, her hands braced on the porch railing, breathing in the cool night air, and waiting for the sharp, heady roar of the repulsors. It came a moment later, and then a streak of gold and red shot into the sky. She watched it, until it disappeared from sight.

“Inside,” her dad said, but he waited to say it until Iron Man disappeared from the night sky.

“How mad is mom?” she asked, not moving.

“Mom's scared,” he said. “Your mom knows how amazing you are. And she wants the rest of the world to know.” He crossed the porch, sinking down to sit on the stairs next to her. “She's afraid that if you don't focus on your studies, you might not become everything you could be.”

Lucy stared up at the sky, her eyes burning, her throat aching. “She doesn't do this to Letitia, Letitia started dating at like twelve,” she said, bitterness rising in her. “And Lily gets away with everything. It's just me. Why is it just me?”

“Because you've always been smart, and driven, and strong,” he said. “So strong. And you've got to be tough. The world, it's not fair, and it's not kind, but you-” He smiled, not up at her, but out at the darkened street. “You are amazing, Lucy. And your mother wants you to succeed. The deck is stacked against you. You know that. So we do have to be tough on you. So you'll be able to get ahead of the game.”

Her eyes closed. “Do you know why I texted him tonight?” she asked. “Because I was so scared about a test that I was crying. I was so scared of everything. I can't-” She sucked in a breath, the feeling of panic pressing down on her. “It was the middle of the night, and I couldn't stop crying. I didn't tell him, I didn't- I didn't say that I was studying and I was worried. I said-”

She looked down, and her face was cold, tears sliding down her face. “I said, 'I'm scared.'” She blinked, and tears rolled down her cheeks. “I said, 'I'm scared,' and he didn't ask why, he didn't ask anything, he just came. He came and he sat there and let me cry and then, when I was done crying, he told me, 'explain it.' Because he knows that if I can explain it to him, then that means I understand it.”

Lucy scrubbed at her face with the heels of her hands. “I was scared, and he made me, he made me not scared. That's it. He broke the rules, he got in trouble, he took the chance, because I was scared.”

Her dad stared up at her, and he was blinking hard. “Luce, it's gonna be okay, you know-”

She sank down next to him. “Will it? Do you get it? I'm so scared of screwing up. Of making a mistake. Of failing a test or not getting in.” Her fingers gripped the stairs on either side of her legs. “If I come home and tell you I failed, I'm scared that I won't-” She couldn't even say the words. “I'm scared.”

She took a breath, and another, controlling herself with a force of will. “But I made a mistake and he still-” She leaned forward, rocking back and forth. “I failed. And he didn't think I was a failure.”

He wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “We'll still love you, even if you fail, you know that right?” he asked.

Lucy scrubbed at her face, rubbing her nose against the back of her wrist, gross and childish as it was. “Will mom?” she asked.

“Yes,” her mother said from behind her. “Of course I will.”

Lucy looked up. “He does, too,” she said. “He listens to me. And he smiles at me, every time. I trust him. I feel better, I'm happier around him, because he doesn't want anything from me. He just-” She smiled. “I like him. A lot.”

Her mom took a deep breath. “He seems like a nice boy,” she said, at last, and her father's arm tightened on her shoulders. “Go to bed. We'll discuss how this is going to work in the morning.”

“Maybe you should take the day off,” her dad said.

“I have a test,” Lucy said.

Her mother shrugged. “You can take a retest. You haven't missed a day of school in forever. One day to sleep in and rest won't change anything.” Her lips curled up, just a little. “Will it?”

Lucy hugged her dad, kissing his cheek, and then stood. Her mother opened her arms, and Lucy darted into them, her arms going around her mother's waist. She buried her face in her mother's shoulder, holding on tight. “Thank you, mama.”

Her mom sighed. “I'm going to regret this. He's trouble.”

Lucy grinned. “He's the cutest,” she said, and her mom tipped her head up with a finger on Lucy's chin.

“You can tell us in the morning. In the meantime...”

“I'm grounded,” Lucy said.

“You are so grounded.”

She smiled. “I'm okay with that.”


End file.
